Zonal Asymmetry of the Stratopause in the 2019/2020 Arctic Winter

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The paper presents interesting results and therefore merits publication.

But before its publication earlier publications in this field must be reported.

For example:

The lesson learned from the unprecedented ozone hole in the Arctic in 2020; A novel nowcasting tool for such extreme events. Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, 2020, 207: 105330.

The exceptional ozone depletion over the Arctic in January–March 2011. Remote Sensing Letters, 2012, 3.4: 343-352.

On the association between the recent episode of the quasi-biennial oscillation and the strong El Niño event. Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 2018, 133.1: 569-577.

I would be happy to review the revised version too.

 

Author Response

Response to Reviewer 1 Comments

 

The revised manuscript remotesensing-1627967_rev1 by Shi et al. "Zonal asymmetry of the stratopause in the 2019/2020 Arctic winter".

 

We thank Reviewer 1 for the useful comments and suggestions that have helped to improve our manuscript. Our responses to the specific points raised are included below in blue text.

 

General Comments by Reviewer

The paper presents interesting results and therefore merits publication.

Specific Comments

 

Point 1.

But before its publication earlier publications in this field must be reported.

For example:

The lesson learned from the unprecedented ozone hole in the Arctic in 2020; A novel nowcasting tool for such extreme events. Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, 2020, 207: 105330.

Now cited in the Introduction [ref 34, L105]

The exceptional ozone depletion over the Arctic in January–March 2011. Remote Sensing Letters, 2012, 3.4: 343-352.

Now cited in the Introduction [ref 36, L105], with the addition of the following text:

“which was the most stable since the 2010/11 winter [35,36].”

Here we have also added reference 35 (Lawrence et al., 2020) which provides further support for the inclusion of reference 36.

On the association between the recent episode of the quasi-biennial oscillation and the strong El Niño event. Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 2018, 133.1: 569-577.

Now cited in the Discussion [ref 59, L394].

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

This paper is interested in behavior of stratopause in cold undisturbed polar winter. The results are quite interesting, 

Only some minor comments : l.175 figure 3f instead of 3e and l. 176 figure 3e instead of 3f. Please describe all lines in fig.3

Author Response

Response to Reviewer 2 Comments

 

The revised manuscript remotesensing-1627967_rev1 by Shi et al. "Zonal asymmetry of the stratopause in the 2019/2020 Arctic winter".

 

We thank Reviewer 2 for the useful comments and suggestions that have helped to improve our manuscript. Our responses to the specific points raised are included below in blue text.

 

General Comments by Reviewer

This paper is interested in behavior of stratopause in cold undisturbed polar winter. The results are quite interesting, 

Specific Comments

 

Point 1. l.175 figure 3f instead of 3e and l. 176 figure 3e instead of 3f.

 

Corrected in text.

Point 2. Please describe all lines in fig.3

The following addition has been made to the caption of Figure 3:

The thick solid line highlights the typical stratopause altitude of 50 km, and thin horizontal dashed lines are shown at 30, 40 and 60 km altitude. The thick dashed line in (e) shows the time-altitude evolution of the temperature maximum at the stratopause.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

The paper discusses the asymmetry of the stratopause during the 2019-é020 Arctic winter, using the MLS satellite data and the MERRA-2 reanalysis data. The authors analyze in details the time and spatial evolution of the polar vortex and the upper stratosphere during this period, and propose a coupling between wave 1 amplification and zonally asymmetric stratopause descent due to the QBO unusual disruption. The paper is well written, is interesting, and can be published in these very minor comments are considered.

Line 79 : Can you indicate the location of “Andenes and 79 Kühlungsborn”?

Line 104: Remove “did”.

Figures 4 are too small, and the legend are difficult to rea; the authors must increase the size or the figures

Author Response

Response to Reviewer 3 Comments

 

The revised manuscript remotesensing-1627967_rev1 by Shi et al. "Zonal asymmetry of the stratopause in the 2019/2020 Arctic winter".

 

We thank Reviewer 3 for the useful comments and suggestions that have helped to improve our manuscript. Our responses to the specific points raised are included below in blue text.

 

General Comments by Reviewer

The paper discusses the asymmetry of the stratopause during the 2019-é020 Arctic winter, using the MLS satellite data and the MERRA-2 reanalysis data. The authors analyze in details the time and spatial evolution of the polar vortex and the upper stratosphere during this period, and propose a coupling between wave 1 amplification and zonally asymmetric stratopause descent due to the QBO unusual disruption. The paper is well written, is interesting, and can be published in these very minor comments are considered.

Specific Comments

Point 1: Line 79 : Can you indicate the location of “Andenes and 79 Kühlungsborn”?

The latitude and longitude of both sites has now been included:

Andenes (69°N, 16°E) and Kühlungsborn (54°N, 11°E)

Point 2: Line 104: Remove “did”.

Removed from text.

Point 3: Figures 4 are too small, and the legend are difficult to read; the authors must increase the size or the figures.

The Figure 4 has now been redrawn to make legend readable.

 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx